Belarus extradites blogger Alexander Lapshin to Azerbaijan (photo, video)
Blogger Alexander Lapshin was extradited from Belarus to Azerbaijan on board an ad hoc flight in the evening of February 7. vesti.az reports Lapshin was accompanied by the armed and masked Azerbaijan security service agents. The blogger's hands were cuffed.
Alexander Lapshin, a famous Russian-language blogger, holds the passports of Russia, Israel and Ukraine. He was detained in Minsk last December on the request of Azerbaijan via Interpol. Azerbaijan had him blacklisted since 2011.
Euroradio reported that the Supreme Court of Belarus yesterday rejected a complaint from Alexander Lapshin and his lawyer who had attempted to appeal the ruling of Minsk City Court to uphold the decision by Belarus' Deputy Prosecutor General to extradite the blogger to Azerbaijan. Baku seeks to prosecute Lapshin for visiting Nagorny Karabakh, the enclave it considers occupied by Armenia, as well as for critical posts on social media about Azerbaijani authorities.
According to reports, Alexander Lapshin and his mother, with mediation from Israeli diplomats, passed their letters with apologies to the leadership of Azerbaijan. However, they received no replies to the letters.
